Hidden Moments in HSM
by lwbsrta7119
Summary: This fic explores the side of Troy and Gabriella's relationship that the movies didn't show us.  It stays true to the movie and characters, but fills in the gaps.  It focuses primarily, but not only, on Troy and Gabriella's physical relationship.


**Note:** This takes place right after the Championship game. Yes, this story is rated M, but this is the very beginning of their romantic relationship and neither Troy nor Gabriella strikes me as the type to just dive right into hot, passionate sex. So while this one does have some physicality, it's not as much as later chapters.

Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez sat in the back of Jack Bolton's car, desperately trying to get out of answering all of their questions. Since the championship game had ended, all they'd wanted to talk about was them, how they met, when they first sang, why they auditioned to begin with. To Troy, it was completely exhausting, and he was already exhausted from the game. He smiled apologetically to Gabriella as she finished describing their elaborate plan for this evening to his parents.

Lucille Bolton smiled. "I must say I'm impressed, Gabriella! Clearly you somehow manage to bring out Troy's clever side. Or maybe it was just his sneakiness and natural ability to break all the rules, get everything he wants, and still avoid getting into too much trouble that allowed you two to pull that off," she added, winking at her son.

"Haha, very funny Mom," Troy said sarcastically as they pulled into the driveway. "Hey, is it okay with you guys if I show Gabriella the tree house until her mom gets here?"

Jack clearly started to protest, but Lucille cut him off. "Of course, hon," she said discreetly shooting a look at her husband. "Just be careful climbing up and down, don't do anything stupid, and we reserve the right to show up unannounced and call you down, okay?"

Troy chuckled and sighed melodramatically. "Oh come on, Mom, you can trust us!"

She used her finger to once again prevent Jack from saying anything. "Don't worry, Troy, I trust Gabriella," she said, this time giving Gabriella a subtle wink.

Gabriella laughed at this and Troy stuck his tongue out at her childishly. "Okay, okay, I hear you. Don't worry, just call us down when you want us," he said before taking Gabriella's hand and running off toward the back yard.

"Don't do anything stup—" Jack began, but Lucille cut him off yet again.

"I think we covered that, honey," she said, chuckling at him as she opened the door to the kitchen. "We'll call you in about an hour Troy," she called after them as they raced toward the tree.

Jack gave his wife a serious look that she clearly didn't seem to take seriously. "I'm just a little nervous, Lucy. You weren't there after practice last week. Troy picked her up and twirled her around, and looked like he enjoyed it! They were laughing and joking, and had these huge smiles on their faces. And I'm pretty sure—"

"Honey," Lucille cut in, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Relax! Does this sound at all familiar to you?" she asked, giving him a knowing smile.

Jack returned her smile and chuckled. "Too much so! Way too familiar for my liking! He's only seventeen, Lucy!"

She nodded, still giving him that smile. "Mm-hmm. Remember you when you were 'only seventeen?'"

Jack's jaw dropped instantly. "Oh my God, Luce, we have got to get them out of that tree house…"

Lucille almost burst laughing. "Jack! Calm down, it's barely their first date, and they're not stupid! Troy and Gabriella are both intelligent, respectful, and talented people with very bright futures. Neither one of them has ever had any trouble with the law, drugs, alcohol, anything! And honey, let's face it: Troy is the star of East High! Star basketball player and now singer, popular, lots of close and trustworthy friends, and for being as young as he is, he's unusually fit. Every girl loves him and every guy is jealous of him. Yet, despite all of that, he's never had a serious girlfriend and, to put it bluntly, is still a virgin. What does that tell you, Jack?"

"That we are damn good parents," he responded, smiling as he realized she was right. "Okay, I guess I overreacted just a little, but that's why I love you, Luce! You keep me sane."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You overreacted 'just a little?' Sure. But I think it's time we realized that he is seventeen and he's going to start dating and those relationships are going to get physical. It's that time in his life whether we like it or not. But, if we make sure they know everything and we keep it here where we can keep an eye on them, it'll all be okay. And frankly, Jack, if Troy is going to fall for someone, I'm rooting for the beautiful, talented, straight-A genius on her way to Stanford." She smiled as she said the last part.

Jack returned her smile. "Okay, okay, I'm going to trust you on this one. But if it comes back to bite us, it's on you!" he added, running into the living room upon being threatened with a spatula.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Troy and Gabriella raced to the tree house in the back yard.<p>

"This is not fair, Troy; I can't run in these shoes!" Gabriella called from behind him.

"Sorry, babe, but that's not my problem!" he yelled back, laughing.

"Oh yeah," she retorted as she reached forward just far enough to give him a little shove forward, causing him to fall face-first onto the grass. "Sorry 'babe,'" she said, sticking her tongue out at him as she quickly slipped her shoes off and ran.

Troy was up and running again in a flash. "Now who's cheating?" he yelled as he sprinted toward the tree, just barely reaching it before Gabriella did. The two of them dropped to the ground simultaneously, laughing as hard as they could while struggling for breath.

"No fair, Troy!" Gabriella managed to get out between all of the bursts of laughter and gasps for breath. "If I hadn't started with my shoes on—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Troy said between his own gasps and fits of laughter. "You just don't want to admit that I completely dominated and nothing you could've done would've kept me from winning." He couldn't keep the huge, giddy smile off his face as he spoke.

"You're sweating again," Gabriella pointed out, changing the subject to avoid admitting that he had won.

Troy cocked an eyebrow. "You know you think it's hot," he said, half-jokingly. He'd said it "as a joke," but secretly he hoped he was correct.

Gabriella laughed again. "Alright, maybe. You did look really good during the game." Immediately, she realized what she had said and regretted saying it out loud.

Troy gulped as she said that, and choked in surprise, quickly trying to pass it off as a chuckle. "Um, well, this is my tree house," he fumbled, trying to change the subject. "Dad and I built it a few years ago."

Gabriella looked up in awe. "Wow, it's amazing, Troy!"

His face lit up. "You haven't seen anything yet! Follow me!" he said, climbing up the ladder. "Just be careful; my mom will kill me if you fall."

"Okay, I will. I know I don't quite have the affinity for trees that you do," she added, smiling at the memory of him climbing up the tree in her back yard.

"Oh ha-ha," he said as he reached the top. "Come on. I want to show you the view," he said, offering his hand to her.

She took it and smiled. Looking up into his unusually blue eyes, she couldn't help but think for a moment about how attractive he was. She followed him around to the side of the tree house, where they could see all of the trees surrounding them and the flowers of his neighbor's massive garden.

"Oh my God, Troy, it's beautiful up here! Now I see why you love the roof of the school, where the science classes grow their plants."

They laughed again as they remembered that day, Troy a bit sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, I remember being so scared of how you'd react to that," he admitted. "Here, sit down."

"Thanks," she said, sitting down and dangling her legs off the edge with him. "Why were you so scared? You knew I'd love it."

"Yeah, but technically we're not supposed to be up there…" he answered with the same nervous smile.

Gabriella just smiled happily. "I didn't care. It was beautiful, and I was with you," she said, looking down from the tree house. She gently brushed her foot against his ankle. "You should take your shoes off," she said suddenly. _What the hell am I doing?_ Her mouth didn't seem to be able to keep what was in her mind from blurting out anymore.

Troy swallowed, trying to keep his cool despite feeling her bare foot rub along his calf. "Why?"

Gabriella smiled flirtatiously, which was unusual for her. Ever so carefully, she slid her foot down his calf to his Asics sneaker and gently pushed down on the back, watching his heel slide out before it fell to the grass below.

"Hey!" Troy said overdramatically, hiding his shoeless foot behind his other sneaker. "What'd you do that for?"

"You made me lose mine," she responded coolly, reaching her foot around to his other shoe and gently sliding that one off with her toes, too. "There, now lose the socks and we'll be even." She gave him the same sexy grin she'd used before, but even she was surprised by this flirtatious side of herself.

Troy couldn't suppress his own flirtatious smile in return. "Okay," he said, quickly sliding off his socks and letting them fall to his shoes below. Then he gently skimmed his foot down her leg and bare foot. Judging by the smile and way she returned the favor, he knew she liked this little impromptu game of footsie just as much as he did. Without even thinking, Troy leaned toward her, slowly at first, but then faster has he placed a kiss on Gabriella's lips. A kiss that was eagerly returned, and then followed by another initiated by Gabriella.

"Wow," Troy said softly. "I've been trying to do that since Christmas."

Gabriella nodded, still smiling. "I know. I wanted you to so bad, but damn Chad and his bad timing! Although, admittedly, the first few times were my fault. I chickened out," she admitted.

"No way," Troy said, surprised. "I kept chickening out too!" They both laughed at that, realizing how pathetic they must've seemed to the rest of the world.

"Are you cold?" he asked, realizing he had a jacket and she was only wearing her red dress. Her very attractive and surprisingly sexy red dress…_damn that looks good on her…_

She smiled. "No, I'm perfect. In fact, I think you'd be more comfortable if you took your jacket off," she added, slightly suggestively.

Troy smiled back as he slid his jacket off his shoulders, leaving just his plain white T-shirt below. _Damn that white T-shirt looks good on him,_ Gabriella couldn't help but think as she felt his foot brush hers again. Involuntarily, she giggled this time.

Instantly she saw Troy's eyebrows raise. "No," she said immediately, knowing he knew what she had just revealed.

"Yes," he said in a surprisingly sexy voice as he stared into her eyes. "You're ticklish. And now, as your boyfriend, it is my job to exploit that!" Instantly, he reached down to tickle the bottom of her foot. She burst laughing and jerked it away, but Troy was merciless. He chased her into the tree house's main room and tickled her again, both of them collapsing to the floor. Finally, when she no longer allowed him to reach her feet, he came up with another idea. He reached up and tickled her stomach, which caused her to start a new laughing fit.

"TROY! STOP!" she shouted as she laughed. She rolled over to keep him from tickling her stomach, but he simply returned to her feet. "UNCLE, UNCLE!" she yelled, still laughing.

Finally, Troy stopped and laid down next to her, laughing almost as hard as she was. "Sorry, but I had to it babe," he said. After a moment to catch their breath, Troy looked back to Gabriella, whose gorgeous, big brown eyes were suddenly filled with an extra little sexy sparkle. He grinned, having a "bad" feeling about what was to come.

Gabriella sat up and saw Troy's sexy smile, and a gleam in his equally sexy blue eyes told her he knew what she was up to. "Two can play at that game," she said. Suddenly, she rolled over and mercilessly tickled Troy back. Her instinct said that his stomach was just as ticklish as hers, and her instinct was almost always right.

"Oh my God!" Troy yelled as he felt her tickle him. He'd never revealed to anyone how ticklish he actually was, so how did she know? But he couldn't have cared less. He found that he actually really enjoyed this tickle fight. It was, he suddenly realized, an excuse to rub their hands all over each other. "Oh my—Gabriella, stop!" he shouted, bursting into laughter even more when he felt her hand slip under his shirt and brush along his skin.

Wait. Suddenly they both stopped. Troy looked up at Gabriella, who was basically on top of him with her hand underneath his shirt, on his bare abs.

"Gabriella?" he said softly. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's just…I've never actually touched a boy like this, let alone under the shirt…"

Troy nodded, understanding. She was, it seemed, just as inexperienced as he was. "Do you want to stop…?" he asked, silently praying that the answer was no. He loved the feel of her hands on his skin, even more than he had loved their bare feet touching.

He felt a sudden wave of relief when Gabriella shook her head. "No, definitely not…" She smiled sheepishly.

He returned the smile, hoping it came off more confidently than he felt. "Well, what _do _you want?"

"Truthfully?" she asked. She leaned in for a kiss, which Troy gracefully provided. Then another. And another, this one a little more passionate. "Truthfully," Gabriella continued, "I want you to lose the shirt…" _What the hell did I just say?_ But she couldn't pretend she didn't want it. For the first time in her whole life, she was with a boy that she honestly wanted to see and touch…and she did NOT want to stop now, having barely done either.

Troy gulped in surprise. "Really?" he asked. He'd heard every girl on campus claim he was hot, but he'd never actually let another girl see him without a shirt. The only exceptions were when he was swimming or playing basketball, and he never thought about it then. He wondered how she would react. As soon as he saw her nod, he slid his shirt off and looked up into her eyes. They instantly grew wider.

"Oh my—Troy, how?"

He was shocked, and suddenly scared. "What?" he asked frantically.

"How did you get to be so…muscular? You're like seventeen, and I can see all eight abdominal muscles, and the pectoral, biceps…actually, everything! How?"

His worry was suddenly replaced by a cocky smile. "Intense workouts, runs, and long hours of basketball," he answered. "You like what you see?" he added half-jokingly.

He almost laughed when he saw her nod. "Jeez, Troy, I mean…I half expected you to look this good, but damn!" She rested her head on his hard chest and rubbed her hand down his abs, and he lightly rubbed the back of her leg with his foot. Then he gently slid his fingers down her arm as he sat up slightly to kiss her again, this time, little by little, adding his tongue. Gabriella returned it immediately, and each kiss grew in intensity. They kissed passionately, each one longer and more meaningful than the last. Gabriella started tracing circles with her fingers on Troy's abs and chest, and he ran he fingers gracefully down her spine and traced circles on her back for a moment before they stopped. Troy leaned in for one last kiss before Gabriella stopped and started to sit back up. As she did so, she gave one last look over Troy's sexy body…wait, what?

Gabriella's eyes had started at his sexy blue eyes and scanned down at his strong arms and pecs, shockingly defined abs and, a little lower, the bulge in his sweatpants. Inexperienced or not, however, Gabriella Montez was not stupid. She knew exactly what the situation was, and that sweatpants and basketball shorts both make that particular situation even more obvious. She also knew that she was a bit excited by this situation, and she decided to go that route rather that the shy, inexperienced, are-you-okay route.

"Troy," she said, flashing him her cutest, sexiest smile. "It would appear that you liked this…maybe as much as I did."

Once again, Troy was completely shocked. At first he'd been horrified when he realized that she had noticed, but now he was strangely aroused by the fact that she knew, and liked it! "Uh-huh," he said, more sheepishly than he had intended. "And these sweatpants are totally incapable of hiding it…"

Gabriella raised her eyebrows. "Who ever said it should be hidden?"

Troy raised his eyebrows in return. "Okay, well if you don't want it hidden…" he said jokingly as he fake-started to remove his sweatpants.

Much to Troy's surprise, however, Gabriella didn't stop him.

"Gabriella! I was joking!" he told her, laughing at her expression.

"That's a shame…"she said flirtatiously, with the same sexy grin.

Troy's jaw dropped. "Wow, Gabriella, I'm honestly shocked! You seemed so inexperienced in this sort of thing…"

Gabriella laughed. "Yes, Troy, I am very inexperienced in this area, probably even less than you are. But why should that mean that I'm unwilling to experience new things in this area? I mean, we're seventeen."

Troy laughed with her. "I guess you're right. It's just…I always thought girls were much more interested in the emotional part of relationships. Don't get me wrong; I am too! But I think the physical stuff has to be a part of it. I mean, it can never be the core of a romantic relationship, but I think—"

"It has to play a part, right?" Gabriella said, finishing his sentence.

Troy nodded. "Yeah! I guess I always hoped that I'd find this perfect girl, who I could laugh with and talk to about anything, and trust, and it would be easy. We could hang out and do normal, fun things all the time, and then, sometimes, when we both wanted to, we could do the physical stuff, and not have to worry if that was the core of our relationship. Because we'd both know better."

It was Gabriella's turn to drop her jaw. "Troy, you have no idea how much you just hit the nail on the head! My last boyfriend—who I admit was not a very serious one—was only looking for a romantic relationship where we could trust each other completely and hang out all the time, but he never wanted to do anything physical! He was convinced that the physical aspect was unnecessary, only for "weaker beings," and would eventually become the core of our relationship. I always hoped I meet a guy who wanted both. Someone who wanted trust, laughter, and respectful friendship the core of the relationship, but who was willing to engage in the physical side too!"

Troy's smile grew wider. "Exactly! Then you came along, and I instantly liked you…I mean, singing with you was so unlike anything I've ever done, and yet it was the most fun I had all Christmas break! And after everything we went through this year, we became such close friends, and then we started dating, which miraculously worked out perfectly! Then tonight, when we started this…more physical side of things, I was so excited because it was like you were my dream girl! Perfect in every way and then some! And at the same time…"

Gabriella finished for him. "You were afraid that you would come off as the typical sex-crazed teenage boy interested in nothing else, right?"

Troy nodded. "Yeah."

"I felt exactly the same way, Troy! Exactly the same way! For the first time in my life, I knew I could trust you and I knew you weren't the type of guy who only wanted sex. Believe me, I asked around about you Troy. You could've had any girl you wanted, and you never did. Yet you wanted a relationship with me despite all odds! I knew you were never in this for the sex, Troy." She smiled and he returned it, nodding that she was correct. "So when we started down this path, I knew I could trust you, but I was afraid of how to let you know that without coming off…you know…?"

"Slutty?" Troy suggested.

Gabriella shrugged. "For lack of a better word, yeah. For really the first time ever, tonight I really wanted to see you, and touch you. I wanted to feel your bare feet against mine and feel your chest under my fingers, and even see that bulge I hoped would form in your sweatpants…" Troy burst laughing when she said that last part. "But I didn't want you to think that that was ALL I wanted. Does that make sense?"

Troy laughed again. "Gabriella, that makes more sense than you could possibly have imagined. Everything you've said describes EXACTLY how I feel!"

Gabriella's face lit up instantly. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that!"

"I think I do, actually," Troy said, still laughing. "Okay, let's agree that we will always be friends first, and that friendship and trust will always be the core of our relationship. But let's also agree that the physical stuff can always be a part of our romantic relationship, and we can always trust that it will never become the core. No endlessly questioning each other if it's only physical stuff we're in it for, because we both know better! Deal?" He offered his pinky finger to Gabriella, who took it with her own.

"Deal."

Troy beamed. "You are so amazing, Gabriella, do you know that? Beautiful, sexy, brilliant, talented, fun, and overall awesome!"

Gabriella laughed at him for what felt like the billionth time tonight. "I've been told. But I could say the same about you, do you know that? Handsome, sexy, talented, fun, and overall awesome."

Troy's eyes rolled up for a moment as he counted. "How come I'm not 'brilliant?'"

Gabriella kept laughing. "Because I won!"

Troy gasped. "That is so not fair!" he said, tickling her again.

"Troy!" she yelled. "Stop! But that does remind me: we should go put our shoes back on and you should put your shirt back on. They'll be calling us in soon."

"True," Troy admitted. "But you know you don't really want me to put my shirt back on," he said fake-arrogantly.

Gabriella giggled, but had to admit he was right. "True, but you still have to, as much as I may not like it. Come on, let's go get our shoes."

Troy picked his shirt up and slid it on again, grabbing his jacket before climbing down behind Gabriella. They headed over to get their shoes. Gabriella grabbed hers and headed back to Troy. She couldn't suppress a laugh when she saw that he once again had on both socks, but only one of his shoes.

"It's not funny, Gabriella," he said, despite that fact that he was laughing himself. You kicked it off, so you have to help find it!"

After five minutes of looking, Troy was still shoeless. "It has to be in your neighbor's yard, Troy! It must be on the other side of the fence. Where else could it be?"

"Jeez, Montez, the amount of trouble you get me into!" He laughed as he got ready to jump of the fence.

"Me?" Gabriella said incredulously. "_You _got _me _in detention the first day of school!"

"Details, details," he said with a wave of his hand as he hopped over to the other side. Ten seconds later, Troy came flying back over the fence, with both shoes this time. "You were right, I found it," he said as he landed. Gabriella had to admit it was impressive how easily and gracefully Troy got over the fence.

"Awesome! That means I didn't get you into any trouble," she said, leaning in for another kiss.

"Troy, did you just hop the fence into the neighbor's yard?" they heard Lucille ask from the house.

Both Troy and Gabriella burst laughing again. "So much for your theory," Troy whispered to Gabriella before yelling back. "No, Mom, we're okay. Just on our way back inside."

And with that, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez intertwined their fingers and headed back to the house, looking forward to whatever else came their way.

**Note: **Thank you all so much for reading! Please leave reviews! Helpful comments are always welcome! If there's something you'd like to say that you don't feel comfortable leaving in a review, PM me, but please make it helpful. I'm a beginning author and I want to learn. Being told, "You suck and your story is stupid and wrong" does not help in any way, shape, or form. That being said, constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks again!


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